Week 7: (Feb. 19-22)
T (E) Review for grammar quiz on English Workshop, Chapter 12: Parts of Speech: Verbs, Linking Verbs, Helping Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections
(Some) Student Learning Teams present
Working and reviewing in groups
W (F) Creating "Study Boards" on parts of speech (in pairs)
Pairs of students will be assigned one of the parts of speech we have studies.
Use Easel.ly or poster board to create an infographic that conveys the key concepts about that part of speech: its function, types, or other important points for understanding. Use simple images and shapes to help you convey your ideas. BWC News Blog: What is an infographic?
Samples: Hamburgers Pixar Story Rules (Two Ways) Can I Use This Image?
Video: How to Create Infographics
HW: Study for grammar quiz on English Workshop, Chapter 12: Parts of Speech: Verbs, Linking Verbs, Helping Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections (quiz postponed to Friday)
Th (A) Finish study boards and review
F (B) Grammar quiz, English Workshop, Chapter 12; reading time
HW: Write reports and be prepared for team meetings next week
Week 8 (Feb. 25-March 1)
M (C): 6A: Student Learning Teams; 6B: Blogging: Strategies and Tips Appeteaser: What have you accomplished in your blogs? How have you stretched and grown and a writer? What do you need to try next? How is research related to blogging? When should you document other sources? What is "Creative Commons"? How can you write better comments?
Tell your story in four-line stanzas with at least 2 lines (2nd and 4th) that rhyme. The first and third lines can rhyme or not -- your choice, but be consistent throughout your poem.
Lines are of close to equal length (this will help with meter later). Sometimes the 2nd and 4th lines are a bit shorter than the 1st and 3rd lines.
Try to sing your ballad -- this will help you work on creating a regular beat or rhythm. See below:
“Mother dear, may I go downtown
Instead of out to play,
And march the streets of Birmingham
In a Freedom March today?”
from Dudley Randall's "Ballad of Birmingham"
Note: Bold indicates stressed syllables; regular type indicates unstressed syllables, especially in comparison to the ones around them.
HW: Finish blog posts or ballads as needed.
Th (F) Read and discuss Shakespeare's Sonnet 29 No Fear Shakespeare version
Identifying the form of a sonnet: iambic pentameter,
Introduce Poetry Anthology assignment
HW: Bring typed copies of poems to class
for workshop (self-portrait poem, catalog/figures of speech poem, ballad -- three copies of workshop poem, one copy of the rest)
1. Self-portrait poem:
Have someone else write down 4 nouns, 4 verbs, and 2 adjectives for you. All of these words should be only one syllable long. Write a poem that is a self-portrait using these words -- and any others you would like to add. Concentrate on using concrete images; pay attention to how you break your lines.
2. Catalog/Figures of Speech Poem
Choose an abstract topic (friendship, school, laziness). Write a poem in a series of metaphors and similes in order to define that topic more precisely. Remember that metaphors and similes are comparisons. Your poem should be a catalog, or list, of a series of metaphors and similes that build towards a greater understanding of your subject. Again pay attention to detail, line breaks, and organizing by stanzas.
3. Ballad -- see instructions above.
F (A) Poetry Workshop
HW: Post a blog post about what you have learned about poetry and being a poet (on the Epic Blog of Awesomeness); print blog post as a draft of an introduction to your poems (see Epic Blog of Awesomeness for another copy of your instructions)
Poetry Introduction Blog Post:
Share your thoughts about what you have learned about poetry over the course of the past two months. Discuss how and what you have learned from the poems we have read together as a class. In addition, describe what you have learned and how you have grown by writing poems of your own. You might consider literary concepts you have mastered, ways you have grown as a reader or writer, and how reading and writing poetry have affected you personally. Please go into depth and use specific details. Feel free to use any of the poetic terms we have discussed as they relate to your reflections about learning.
Week 9
M (B) Revise poems and introduction
HW: Post reports for Student Learning Teams
T (C) 6A: Student Learning Teams; 6B: Wordskills, Unit 4
HW: Wordskills, Unit 4
W (D) 6A: Review Wordskills, Unit 4; 6B: Student Learning Teams
Complete poetry anthology project: Introduction and 3 poems; print out to turn in at the beginning of class
Th (E) Poetry Anthology Project due; celebration
Study for Wordskills, Unit 4 test
F (F) Wordskills, Unit 4 Test
HW: Independent Reading: Be prepared to recommend 2 books from 3rd quarter after spring break
(B) Reading/discussion
(C) Learning Teams/Blogging (double period); vocabulary/grammar
(D) Learning Teams/Blogging (double period); vocabulary/grammar
(E) Introductions, new concepts, clarifications
(F) Reading/discussion
Week 7: (Feb. 19-22)
T (E) Review for grammar quiz on English Workshop, Chapter 12: Parts of Speech: Verbs, Linking Verbs, Helping Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections
(Some) Student Learning Teams present
Working and reviewing in groups
W (F) Creating "Study Boards" on parts of speech (in pairs)
Pairs of students will be assigned one of the parts of speech we have studies.
Use Easel.ly or poster board to create an infographic that conveys the key concepts about that part of speech: its function, types, or other important points for understanding. Use simple images and shapes to help you convey your ideas.
BWC News Blog: What is an infographic?
Samples:
Hamburgers
Pixar Story Rules (Two Ways)
Can I Use This Image?
Video: How to Create Infographics
HW: Study for grammar quiz on English Workshop, Chapter 12: Parts of Speech: Verbs, Linking Verbs, Helping Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections (quiz postponed to Friday)
Th (A) Finish study boards and review
F (B) Grammar quiz, English Workshop, Chapter 12; reading time
HW: Write reports and be prepared for team meetings next week
Week 8 (Feb. 25-March 1)
M (C): 6A: Student Learning Teams; 6B: Blogging: Strategies and Tips
Appeteaser: What have you accomplished in your blogs?
How have you stretched and grown and a writer?
What do you need to try next?
How is research related to blogging?
When should you document other sources?
What is "Creative Commons"?
How can you write better comments?
See the "Epic Blog of Awesomeness" for ideas for future posts.
HW: Independent Reading; consider ideas for blog post
T (D) 6A: Blogging: Strategies and Tips (see Monday); 6B: Student Learning Teams
HW: Blog post due tomorrow
Tuckman's Stages of Group Development
W (E) Blog post due
in-class writing assignment: ballad (in your composition notebook)
- Decide on your story.
-- Legendary, larger-than life character-- Big conflict
- Plot your narrative into stanzas
-- Introduce protagonist-- Introduce conflict
-- Develop conflict
-- Resolve conflict
- Tell your story in four-line stanzas with at least 2 lines (2nd and 4th) that rhyme. The first and third lines can rhyme or not -- your choice, but be consistent throughout your poem.
Lines are of close to equal length (this will help with meter later). Sometimes the 2nd and 4th lines are a bit shorter than the 1st and 3rd lines.“Mother dear, may I go downtown
Instead of out to play,
And march the streets of Birmingham
In a Freedom March today?”
from Dudley Randall's "Ballad of Birmingham"
Note: Bold indicates stressed syllables; regular type indicates unstressed syllables, especially in comparison to the ones around them.
HW: Finish blog posts or ballads as needed.
Th (F) Read and discuss Shakespeare's Sonnet 29
No Fear Shakespeare version
Identifying the form of a sonnet: iambic pentameter,
Introduce Poetry Anthology assignment
HW: Bring typed copies of poems to class
for workshop (self-portrait poem, catalog/figures of speech poem, ballad -- three copies of workshop poem, one copy of the rest)
1. Self-portrait poem:
Have someone else write down 4 nouns, 4 verbs, and 2 adjectives for you. All of these words should be only one syllable long. Write a poem that is a self-portrait using these words -- and any others you would like to add. Concentrate on using concrete images; pay attention to how you break your lines.
2. Catalog/Figures of Speech Poem
Choose an abstract topic (friendship, school, laziness). Write a poem in a series of metaphors and similes in order to define that topic more precisely. Remember that metaphors and similes are comparisons. Your poem should be a catalog, or list, of a series of metaphors and similes that build towards a greater understanding of your subject. Again pay attention to detail, line breaks, and organizing by stanzas.
3. Ballad -- see instructions above.
F (A) Poetry Workshop
HW: Post a blog post about what you have learned about poetry and being a poet (on the Epic Blog of Awesomeness); print blog post as a draft of an introduction to your poems (see Epic Blog of Awesomeness for another copy of your instructions)
Poetry Introduction Blog Post:
Share your thoughts about what you have learned about poetry over the course of the past two months. Discuss how and what you have learned from the poems we have read together as a class. In addition, describe what you have learned and how you have grown by writing poems of your own. You might consider literary concepts you have mastered, ways you have grown as a reader or writer, and how reading and writing poetry have affected you personally. Please go into depth and use specific details. Feel free to use any of the poetic terms we have discussed as they relate to your reflections about learning.
Poetic terms: line, stanza, imagery, figures of speech, metaphor, symbol, simile, meter, rhythm, rhyme, rhyme scheme, alliteration, catalog, ballad, sonnet, iambic pentameter, in medias res, octave, sestet, quatrain, couplet
Week 9
M (B) Revise poems and introduction
HW: Post reports for Student Learning Teams
T (C) 6A: Student Learning Teams; 6B: Wordskills, Unit 4
HW: Wordskills, Unit 4
W (D) 6A: Review Wordskills, Unit 4; 6B: Student Learning Teams
Complete poetry anthology project: Introduction and 3 poems; print out to turn in at the beginning of class
Th (E) Poetry Anthology Project due; celebration
Study for Wordskills, Unit 4 test
F (F) Wordskills, Unit 4 Test
HW: Independent Reading: Be prepared to recommend 2 books from 3rd quarter after spring break
Poetry Terms: line, stanza, imagery, catalog, rhyme, rhythm, meter, narrative, ballad, figurative language: simile, metaphor, simile, alliteration, catalog